i´m here!

whoo! i´m finally here in beautiful bogotá, colombia!  i got in late sunday night, and met up with the other volunteers.  as i´d predicted, the group quite resembles my sit study abroad group in uganda, and all development studies classes, for that matter--a bunch of girls (and a few boys) with a worldly, hippie vibe, most with longish, dark, curly hair, wearing scarves and interesting earrings, peasant blouses and embroidered tunics, holding passports with many stamps in patch-worked or tie-died hobo satchels.  we had some interesting chats about our backgrounds.  most had studied abroad, done IR, worked for NGOs and such.  several were actually from DC!  i met a girl who worked for save darfur in dc, another who´d volunteered in mbale, uganda, another who´d studied abroad on the same program my friend did in cairo, and a really interesting fellow who´d worked for the UN in Liberia doing child soldier rehabilitation.

we had an adventure trying to fit all of us and our stuff on a little bus to take us to our lodging, but eventually managed, stuffing people and suitcases in like ugandan taxi drivers.  i worried because try as i might, i´d failed at the whole packing light thing, and pictured arriving with my suitcase and duffel and seeing everyone else with little backpacking packs.  but i was by no means the most overburdened.

we were then quickly shuffled off to a little town to the north of bogotá, onto a little compound used for religious retreats, full of bunk beds and crucifixes.  we´ll be here for a month, doing TEFL (teaching english as a foreign language) training and a crash course in improving our spanish.  i almost feel like i´m not yet in colombia--we haven´t left the compound for days, seen the city, or met many colombians apart from the people at the compound and our teachers.  but we were finally able to leave the compound today and explore the little town for a bit.

TEFL training.  note the crosses & blankets.

the area is gorgeous.  there are mountains all around and fields full of noisy cows and chickens.  the air is cool--in fact, i´m freezing most of the time, i definitely didn´t pack enough warm clothes.  but at midday it´s sunny and quite pleasant. and the altitude is getting to me!  it´s a strange sensation, but i can feel it with every breath. a 15 minute walk leaves me gasping, each breath seems only half full, and when i ride the bus along the roads that wind even higher up the mountains, i can feel my ears popping and start to feel dizzy.  but i´m sure i´ll get used to it soon.  and when i return, i´ll have lungs (and an immune system) of steel!